DORF is a photographic series about my relationship with Korea and photography, and the ongoing urban development I’ve witnessed in the countryside.

As a high school student, I spent a year in Seocheon, a small town in South Korea’s Chungnam Province, known for its wide fields and proximity to the peninsula’s west coast. When I first arrived in Korea, I knew little about the culture and didn’t speak the language. I was lucky to learn both in this remote place. That year shaped me and marked the beginning of my adult life.

Back in Germany, I started taking photographs during the pandemic, which led me to study art at university. In 2022, I returned to Seocheon for the first time in two years, this time with a camera. Overcome with nostalgia for the town, I wandered around, retracing the routes I used to take and photographing what I found along the way.

As I walked, I noticed how much Seocheon had changed in just two years. New apartment buildings had gone up, chains had replaced old cafés, and construction was everywhere.

Over the next two years, I kept looking for scenes to photograph in Seocheon. As I changed, so did the town.

To most people, Seocheon is just one of many towns in the countryside. To me, Seocheon is Korea.